Daily painting #67, and Sasha

When I’m in New York, I like to attend at least one life-drawing session at the Art Students League on West 57th Street. I chose a long pose of Sasha, an excellent model. I started with an indifferent gesture sketch of her full figure, then did this 35-minute portrait sketch.

Geoff Watson, “Sasha,” graphite on paper, 6” x 8,” 2019..

Before life class, I took my little portable paintbox and stood on the corner of 57th and 7th Avenue, looking downtown, toward Times Square. I had trouble concentrating: there was no place to sit, it was hot, and it was crowded. But at least I got a few ideas down on the canvas. I was interested in contrasting the dark mass of green (the backstop for the 57th Street subway stop) with the very bright buildings on the left. And it’s always fun to sketch figures in the city.

Geoff Watson, “Sketch of 7th Avenue at 57th Street,” study, July daily painting #6, oil on canvas panel, 6” x 8,” 2019.

Danny's truck

My sore back has kept me inside during the gorgeous spring weather here, but today I could no longer resist, and I gingerly set up my easel on my front yard and painted this truck, using mostly gouache — transparent watercolor. I haven’t touched my gouache in a while, and my blue and red tubes were caked dry, so I had to improvise to get the colors you see here. Time to buy some new paint!

The underlying drawing is better than the finished painting. I did a very careful and accurate pencil drawing, but I chose brushes that were too large. Artists always say use the largest brush possible, but I think I took that principle too far here. Still, it was great to get outside and paint again.

Geoff Watson, “Sketch of Danny’s truck,” gouache, watercolor & graphite on paper, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Quick sketch of a woman

I love trying to sketch portraits of moving subjects -- or, as James Gurney puts it, portraits "in the wild."  Some people fidget endlessly, and I find it difficult to get their likeness.  But some people stay reasonably still, which is a wonderful thing!  I did this one a couple weeks ago, in about 15 minutes, but I forgot to post it.  

Geoff Watson, "Sketch of a woman," graphite on paper, about 5" x 7," 2018.

Figures

These are three five-minute sketches from life class.  I made myself put them all on one page, which meant I had to vary the size of each.  A good exercise, and some interesting results.

Geoff Watson, "Figure sketches," graphite on paper, about 12" x 16," 2018.